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A J Bell had Q4 earnings down for today.

It also has Annual Report for 27th September.

No sign of it in next week's earnings either....https://www.lse.co.uk/news/uk-earnings-trading-statements-calendar-next-7-days-p2988wttqozcedi.html

I believe it is an exit of their manufacturing and sales operations in Africa including all local brands.

It has been a the main source of instability for decades and the fact that the PZ family shareholders have agreed to part with it (as it was part of the heritage of the company being set up as a trading company) is a major step forward IMO.

Less is more and releasing the shackles on their truely global brands will hopefully lead to better sales, profitability and ROCE.

Before this "inner shift" I would have said they would never be considered a takeover - now I think there's a possibility.

The RNS from 24th April details it all https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/PZC/q3-trading-and-update-on-strategic-actions-q49hzmtqoxlqey6.html

It is the combination of high interest rates and high post Covid debt levels that companies are carrying, more than a technical recession. We are unlikely to ever see the levels of

Mmm...been saying that to myself for 2 years and yet....-VE

On a positive, I did see that they are handling a very high profile administration with ROXi which I was pleased to see as it raises their profile in the media.

Any guesses as to why no buyback on 6th?

Same day Marshall Wace opens a short Position.....

So Made Tech ended July having been awarded £7.2m of contracts made up of £4.4m for Department of Business & Trade, £495 for Department for Media & Sport and £2.3m for Department of Health & Social Care.

Headline is for up to 10% of shares to be bought back and 3/4 of those to be cancelled with the rest held in treasury. The cynic in me says that the drop back in share price from c.£29 in the last week or so may have been to do with this....

It does strike me though that the streamlined business will be one of 3 that immediately come to mind alongside Haleon and Kenvue (J&J Consumer Health spin off) so it may lead to consolidation.

I have to agree with you Mr Picky. A 3 % reduction in fixed costs is going to cost £1billion to implement.

Now I may have done my maths incorrectly but I get that to be a 6 year payback on current business but once they offload baby and air fresheners that will probably reduce it by about 1/3 but I am very surprised at the 1.9% rise against a very flat market today.

MadeTech have been awarded two contracts worth £5m in July so far.

My source is BidStats.uk

Thanks for sharing. Kind of similar conclusion to my own i.e. we should be questioning some of the add backs in the adj. EBITDA figures. Is £3m (for c.4 months 18/12/23 to 30/4/2024) out of the total adj.EBITDA of £28.5m a reasonable figure for the EBT Share Purchase Scheme? The 8 months prior to that they were issuing new shares and diluting down so in this 12 month period they've accounted for disproportionately more share incentives than last year....surely?

It would be an enormous purchase by any measure but a Berkshire Hathaway or a VC JV intent on a carve up of brands is not out of the question. As ever, I've bought a chunk based on fundamentals alone but if a takeover materialises then happy days!

I think the May update set the tone for a bigger beat than they actually achieved - they muted c.£29m but actually only came in £100k over market expectations at £28.5m. Revenue came in £1.5m over the range but none of it appeared to drop down to EBITDA.

I think the concerning thing here is that since announcing share buy backs on 14th December for the EBT Scheme they have spent £3m so I am not sure what that equates to on an annual basis but I used to reckon the previous issuing of new shares for staff incentives equated to c.1.7-2% dilution annually. Clearly staff have to be incentivised but it feels that £3m in less than half a year is disproportionate for a company of this size and I question where the private & institutional shareholders really sit in the priorities here. Also, a halving of diluted EPS doesn't sit pretty no matter how much you throw into addbacks.

I can't help but feel PIs are being hoodwinked by the professional bean counters and have finally decided to exit at an appropriate time which is not today!

** Market expectations (as compiled by the company): revenue of £134.0m-£135.2m, adjusted EBITDA £27.7m-£28.4m, adjusted PBT of £21.9m-£22.5m, net debt of £2.0m-£3.2m

So Spiegel sails off into the sunset have presided over an annihilation of shareholder value. WHY has there not been more noise from the institutional investors and why were they last minute sellers? Surely, there should have seen it coming more than the PIs?!

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/uk/news/mergers-acquisitions/accredited-sale-crosses-the-finish-line-495259.aspx

CCC on a good run following Capital Markets Day presentation on 5th June which made for good reading. FTSE 250 down 1% in that time.

Interesting discussion as to what the true value is of DGE. History would indicate that companies with strong FCF and shareholder return such as Diageo/Unilever/Reckitt are less cyclical than many others due to the power of their brands. Inflation, amongst other things has chipped away at their volume versus value sales and PE ratios have dropped for the first time in years below 20 when they have previously operated in the 20-28x range.

The challenges will abate and we will get back there again, all things being equal.

I correct myself - the emails received did say that Benbow BUT in the sub-text it only referred that date to the selling of rights and not to the exercising of rights. There was no specific mention of a deadline for exercising and thus i assumed that the official deadline of 10th June at 10am prevailed.

Thank you for your reply Benbow 27. I have gone through all emails received to my wife (and ordinarily I am cc'd also) and neither of us received these emails so this news concerns me greatly.

I crystalised a £50k loss today and I'm actually relieved to be out of this disaster of a company. I have previously warned people but some people will not take advice.

I just do not understand why the institutions that hold a large share of this company have been holding on and this was the only reason I was reluctant to sell. Anyway, the only positive I can gleem from this experience is that I can offset the gains made on Barc, GSK and Melrose in the last 12 months.

The BoD should be struck off as far as I am concerned - Spiegel's tenureship in particular has been disasterous

Morning, I am trying to see if my recent experience with A J Bell is unique or others are affected.

I executed the rights issue on my personal account within good time but on my wife's account I was waiting for dividends to be paid in order to have the funds. The right to execute the rights offer officially closed on Monday 10th June at 10am according to NGs timeline and I tried doing this at 0900 on the day only to find A J Bell had closed it on 5th! I reviewed the correspondence and the only mention of the 5th June deadline was if I wanted to sell my rights rather than take them up so I naturally ignored that deadline. My wife's account is out of pocket by >£2000 as a result of the difference in price of what they are trading at post rights and the cost of taking up each new share @£6.45.

Did anyone else find themselves affected as I feel there is a fairly strong legal case against A J Bell for lack of clarity in their communication?